Voting-machine



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1. W. M. CUTTER. VOTING MAGHINE Patented My8, 1894.

FOR 60 VERA/0R y] e a s.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

W. M. CUTTER.

VOTING MACHINE.

No. 519,494. Patented May 8, 1894.

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(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3. W. M. CUTTER. VOTING MACHINE No. 519,494.Patented May 8,1894.

- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

XVILLIAM M. CUTTER, OF MARYSVILLE, CALIFORNIA.

VOTING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 519,494, dated May8,1894.

Applioationtiled November 17,1893. Serial No. 491,247. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern; 7

Be it known that I, WILLIAM M. CUTTER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Marysville, county of Yuba, State of California, haveinvented an Improvement in Voting-"Vlachines; and I hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same. I

My invention relates to the class of voting machines, and it consists ina box having swinging doors, which, by their movement in affordingaccess to the interior, adjust and set suitable devices within, adaptedto be operated by the voter, whereby his vote is registered.

It also consists in the voting mechanism, the means for controlling itand insuring its proper and restricted use, the means for registerin gthe votes for the different candidates, the means for registering thetotal votes cast, and various details of construction, arrangement andcombination, all of which I shall hereinafter fully describe and claim.

The object of my invention is to provide a simple, effective andaccurate voting machine, in which provision is made for the necessitiesof the election and the proper conditions of exercising the electoralfranchise.

Referring to the accompanying drawings o\for a more complete explanationof my invention,-Figure 1 is a perspective front View of my machine, thedoors a being shown open. Fig. 2 is a vertical cross section on the lineyy of Fig. 4. Fig. 3 is a vertical section through the box D, showingthe interior mechanism. Fig. 4- is a top .view of the machine, the upperwall of case A, and the box D being removed. Fig. 5 is a front View ofthe voting mechanism.

A is a box or case of suitable size. this is firmly secured a fixedframe B composed of a front and a back portion separated from each otherand suitably connected. Within this frame,between its front and backportions, is a slidable frame 0 supported and suitably guided in avertical position. This slidable frame is normally held pressed to thefront, bymeans of aspring 0 above and below, said spring encircling arod 0 projectingbackwardly from the frame 0 and moving through asuitable bearing 1) on the back of the fixedrfrarne B. The spring bearsbe- Within tween this bearing 1) and the sliding frame and by itsexpansion holds the frame normally forward.

Upon the frontof the sliding frame 0, above and below, is a fixedincline 0 one at each corner.

The front of the box A has swinging doors a, each of which, above andbelow, has secured to it, a presser arm a, the inner extremity of whichis adapted to bear upon the incline c W'hen the doors are wide open,these arms are not in contact with the inclines c and the frame 0 isthen held forward by its spring 0. But upon closing the doors, the armsa come in contact with the inclines c and thereby press and hold theframe 0 back, while the forward pressure of the spring pressed frameupon the angular arms or levers a causes them to hold the doors closed.This is due to the fact that the arms or levers 0/ project beyond thehinged edges of the doors. the arms a gradually relieve the inclines oand thereupon the springs 0 force the frame 0 forward again. Thisreciprocation of the frame thus effected and controlled by the openingand closing of the doors is taken advantage of to register the totalnumber of operations of the doors, and ultimately to register the totalvotes cast, because, as will be presently described, each voter, inorder to cast his vote, must open the doors, or have them opened forhim, and they must be closed again to reset the voting mechanism. Thuseach full operation of the doors represents a vote. This result iseffected by the following mechanism: On top of box A is a closed box D,in which is journaled a drum (1, having a gear d, with which meshes apinion d on a screw shaft d The other end of this screw shaft carries aratchet d Upon the slidable frame 0 is a pawl 0 spring controlled and somounted that as the frame is pressed back, the pawl will engage theratchet (being rigid in that direction) and will turn the screw shaftand through the gearing will turn the drum (1. As the frame movesforward again,

the pawl 0 yields in this direction and slips;

the ratchet. Upon drum d are spirally ar-' ranged the figures d incontinuous series. In front of the box is a slide cover d with a sightaperture d adapted to expose a single num- Upon opening the doors againber. Upon the screw shaft d is a traveler nut (i having an arm (2 whichengages the slide d. The movement of the slide, the rotation of the drumand the arrangement of the figures on the drum are such that at eachoperation of the drum, the slide will move and will expose a succeedingfigure of the series. In operation, therefore, when the doors areopened, the pawl slips the ratchet and the drum does not move. But thevoter having finished and retired, and the doors closed again, the pawlengages the 'ratchet and the drum is turned and thus continuouslyexhibits the total votes. A spring-controlled retaining pawl d engages aratchet d on the screw shaft and prevents its backward rotation andholds it accurately to its movement. In order to call attention,however, to the act of opening the doors, there is a trigger c on theframe 0, which, when the frame is sliding forwardly, vibrates a contact(Z connected with a ham mer c1 adapted to strike a gong d Returning, thetrigger pawl slips the contact and the gong is not sounded.

' The voting mechanism is as follows:-Upon the front of the frame 13, isa vertically movable face plate E, having sight slots 6, above each ofwhich are affixed, in suitable manner, the names of the candidates to bevoted for. It has also a central opening 6, and the slots e are arrangedin corresponding horizontal planes on each side of this central opening.The names of opposing candidates for the same office are set in the samelines. For convenience I have here shown provision made for but twoparties, though it will be readily understood that the machine may beextended to provide for as many parties as may be in the field. In theframe B are mounted horizontally any number of shafts F. Four are hereshown, two being in each line. Upon each shaft is ahand wheel Gprojecting through guide slots in the front of the frame, and areexposed in the central opening of the face-plate. Upon each shaft F is adrum f. Upon these drums are figures which may be exposed through sightopenings Z) in the front of frame B and through the slots (2 in theface-plate, when the latter is raised. Now, by turning the hand wheelcorresponding to the candidate, the voter will record his choice, bymeans of the rotation of the drum f. To obtain the necessary secrecyduring voting, the face-plate E is normally depressed so as to cover thesight openings 1), and it is held in this position by means of a lockeddoor a in the top of box A. By openingthis door access may be had to theface-plate and it may be raised to enable the officers to see at thebeginning of the day, that the drums are all started at zero, and at anytime thereafter to inspect them if required, and at the end of the dayto see the full amount of votes for each candidate.

In order to prevent the voter from voting for more than one candidatefor the same of fice, and to prevent him from voting twice for the samecandidate, there is the following mechanism :As before stated the namesand the voting hand wheels of candidates for the same office arearranged in the same horizontal line. This arrangement is not absolutelyessential, as they may be arranged in vertical columns, but it isconvenient in enabling me to properly connect the controlling devices aswill be explained. The center upright c of frame 0, slides over rods Ifixed in frame B. Upon these rods are mounted and adapted to slidelocking blocks J controlled by springs j which encircle the rods. Theseloekin g blocks lie immediately behind the center upright o of frame 0,so that when the frame is pushed backwardly upon the opening of thedoors, as heretofore described, the locking blocks will be pushed backon the rods I, against their springs. These blocks also lie in thehorizontal planes of the several voting wheels, there being one blockfor each wheel, or as here shown, one for each pair of wheels. Thesewheels are formed, as shown, with spokes or radial arms g, and when theblocks are at rest at their forward limit, they lie between the spokesor arms of their corresponding wheels and effectually lock them andprevent their movement. The backward movement of the blocks, as abovedescribed, under the inpushing of frame C, causes them to re move fromthe arms 9 of the wheels, whereby the latter are freed, and can berotated. K are swinging catches having heads 7i: under which the blocksslip in moving backwardly, and by which they are engaged and temporarilyheld backwardly. The heads of these catches lie in the path of rotationof the voting wheel arms g. Now when the voter turns one of the votingwheels (all of which are freed when the voter is ready to vote, as Ihave described) an arm of said wheel, will,by contact with the overlyingcatch, raise it, and immediately, the'loc'king block being freed, will,under the power of its spring, move forward to its engagement with thearms of the wheel and lock it, so that it cannot be turned any fartheror again, until after the doors have been once more closed and opened,in order to reset the locking block. The frame G is at this time out ofthe way of the blocks, because, the doors being then open, said frame isin its forward position. Thus the voter is prevented from voting morethan once for any candidate. Now, to prevent him from voting for morethan one candidate for the same office, I have only to so connect thecatches K of all the voting wheels representing said candidates, in sucha manner that they will all be operated in unison by the movement of anyone wheel of this set. Accordingly I have the catches K in the sameline, connected with a shaft It at their rear extremities. .Therefore,when the voter turns one wheel, it will, in releasing its particularcatch, release the catches of all the other wheels of the same set, andthereupon,

all the locking blocks, or the locking block of that set, will moveforward to their or its engagement with the several wheels, and lockthem all, so that having turned the wheel for one candidate, he cannotturn the wheel of any other candidate for the same office.

In order to provide a record for the total of votes received for eachcandidate, without having to make the drums f impractically large, Ihave each shaft F screw-threaded, and upon each is seated a travelingnut f provided with a pointer f projecting through a slit f in the frontof the frame, and traveling over or by a row of figures represented byThe drumsf may have upon them the nine digits and the zero, and thefigures f may represent tens. The pitch of the threaded shafts F is suchthat the pointers will be carried along one number for each ten numberson the drums, or onerevolution of said drums.

In order to enable the officers of election to open the doors andinspect the machine at the beginning of the day, to see that theindicators are at zero, and also to open the doors at the close of theelection to count the vote, and in each case to prevent by themanipulation of the doors the setting of the parts and the consequentopportunity offurther operation, I have an arm Mon top of the front ofthe frame B, and which is accessible through the top door a This arm canbe turned inwardly so as to bear against and hold frame 0 back. Theframe in thus moving back, causes a cam c on'the rod 0' of said frame tooperate on a lug Z in a cam way in a vertically movable bar L on thebackof frame B, whereby said bar is lifted, and stops Z with which it'isprovided are thus brought up closely under the rear ends of the catchesK or of their connecting shafts whereby said catches are locked andcannot be raised by the voting wheels should any attempt to turn thelatter, be made, and by being in the way of said wheels, the lattercannot be turned. Therefore, as long as the arm M holds the frame 0back, all th parts are locked. 4

-As I have before intimated, the extension of this machine to enlargeits capacity and shit the requirements of any election, is a mereobvious duplication and increase of parts already described.

r; Iii practice the doors of the box will be large enough to serve as abooth for the voter, thereby affording the necessary privacy.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A voting machine comprisinga shaft provided with means for rotatingit by the voter, and having an indicating mechanism to register itsmovement, a lock normally engaging the shaft and preventing itsrotation, means for retracting the look by the action of the voter torender the machine active, a trip to release the said look when thevoter has operated said shaft to register his vote; the said trip lyingin the path of a projection or arm carried by the said shaft; wherebywhen the trip is operated it releases said lock, and the shaft will belocked against further rotation until the machine is again renderedactive by the next voter, substantially as herein described. v

2. In a voting machine, the combination of a pluralityof independentlyrotatable shafts, each having an indicator to register its movement, alock for normallyholdin g each of said shafts from turning, means forrelieving the shafts of their lock, and connected tripping devices forsaid lock, operated in unison by a given movement of any one of theplurality of shafts, to permit the return of the lock to its normalengagement, to hold all the shafts,

substantially as herein described.

3. In a voting machine, the combinationof a rotatable shaft having ahand wheel for turning it, and an indicator for registering itsmovement, a movable locking block adapted to normally engage and holdthe hand wheel to prevent the shaft from turning, means for removing thelocking block from its engagement to relieve the Wheel and its shaft,and a catch to temporarily hold said block, said catch being tripped bya given movement of the wheel to permit the return of the block to itsnormal engagement to lock said wheel, substantially as herein described.

4:. In a voting machine, the combination of aplurality of independentlyrotatable shafts, each having a hand wheel for turning it, and anindicator for registering its movement, a movable locking block adaptedto normally engage and hold each hand wheel to prevent its shaft fromturning, means for removing the locking block from. its engagement torelieve all the wheels and shafts, and connected catches to temporarilyhold said block, said catches being operated in unison by a givenmovement of any one of said wheels, to permit the return of all theblocks to their normal engagement, to look all of said wheels andshafts, substantially as herein described.

5. A voting machine comprising a shaft provided with means for rotatingit by the voter, and having an indicating mechanism to register itsmovement, a lock normally engagi the shaft and preventing its rotation,levers connected with the said lock for operation by the voter toretract the lock and render the machine active, a trip to release thesaid lock and permit it to again lock the said shaft after the voter hasturned it to register his vote; the said shaft having a projectingportion or arm to release said trip as soon as the voter operates theshaft, and thus render the machine inactive until the next voteractuates said levers, substantially as herein described;

6. In a voting machine, the combination of an exterior box, having aswinging door, a 1'0- tatable shaft within, having an indicator forregistering its movement, a normally engaged lock to prevent said shaftfrom turning, a slidable frame within the box adapted to re lievetheshaft of said lock, said frame being operated by the opening andclosing of the TOC door of the box, and a tripping device operated by agiven movement of the shaft, to permit the return of the lock,substantially as herein described.

7. In a voting machine, the combination of an exterior box, having aswinging door, a retatable shaft within, having a hand-wheel for turningit and an indicator to register its move ment, a movable locking blocknormally engaging the hand-wheel to prevent it from turning, a slidableframe operated by the opening and closing of the doors to relieve thehand-whee1 of its locking block, and a catch for temporarily holdingsaid block and operated by a given movement of the handwheel to releasethe block to permit it to return to its normal engagement, to hold thewheel and shaft, substantially as herein described.

8. A voting machine comprising a hand operated shaft provided with anindicating mechanism to register its movement, a lock normally engagingthe shaft and preventing its rotation, a slide for retracting the lockwhenever the voter places the machine in active condition by operatingthe slide, a trip to hold the lock retracted, and actuated by the shaftwhen the voter operates it to release the lock and permit it to againlock the shaft and render the machine inactive until the slide isoperated by the next voter, a pawl carried by the slide, and aregistering mechanism having a ratchet in the path of said a pawl toregister the number of times the slide is operated, substantially asherein described.

9. A voting apparatus comprising an upright casing provided withvertical double doors to form a booth or lnclosure when swung open,lever arms carried by the hinged ends of the doors, and entering theinterior of the casing, a shaft within the casing having operating meansextending through the front of the casing for actuation by the voter,and having an indicator to register its movement, a sliding frame in thecasing and in the path of the said lever arms, and a locking mechanismretracted by said lever arms upon opening the doors, a trip operated bythe shaft-for rea leasing the said lock to permit it to again lock theshaft, and a registering mechanism operated by the said slide toregister every time the doors are opened, substantially as hereindescribed. 7

10. A voting machine comprising a casing having swinging doors providedat their hinged edges with lever arms projecting past said edges, aspring pressed fram e in the casing registering its movement whenrotated by the voter, a locking bar for the shaft retracted by saidsliding frame, a trip for temporarily holding the lock retracted, andreleased by the shaft upon an attempt to further operate the shaft,substantially as herein described. 11. In a voting machine, thecombination of the slid'able frame adapted by the exigencies of themachine to be operated by the performance of each voter in exercisinghis franchise, the rotatable drum having the spirally directedindicating figures,and the means for operating the drum consisting ofthe pawl on the frame, the shaft having the ratchet with which the pawlengages, and gearing between the shaft and'drum,a casing for said drumprovided with a slot, and the means for exhibiting the indicatingfigures, consisting of the apert u red sliding cover plate over saidslot, and the traveler nut seated on the shaft and having an armengaging said cover plate, substantially as herein described. 12. Avoting machine comprising a casing having a hinged lid and a frontprovided with sight apertures, a registering mechanism in the casing,the numerals of which are visible through said apertures, operating handwheels exposed for actuation through said front, hinged front doorsadapted to render said mechanism operative, and a vertically movableslide E, over said front and adapted to be raised and lowered uponopening the lid of the case to expose and cover said sight apertures,substantially as herein described. 13. In a voting machine, therotatable shafts with their indicator drums and hand wheels, the slidinglocking blocks, the slidable frame and the catches, in combination withthe swinging holding arm M for the frame, the cam rod 0' of said frameand the vertically movable bar L with its stop blocks operated by saidcam rod and adapted to lock the catches, substantially as hereindescribed.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

WILLIAM M. cur

